Navigating restructures (without losing trust)
Restructures are one of the most challenging and emotionally charged forms of people change. They’re complex, highly regulated, and deeply personal for everyone. In this blog, we’ll break down what restructures typically look like from a change and communications perspective, and how to approach them in a way that is clear, compliant, and human.
Firstly, what’s a restructure?
In this context, we’re talking about large-scale restructures that involve a reduction in roles, often redundancies. These situations usually require close collaboration between leaders, HR, industrial relations, and change or internal communications professionals.
There’s a fairly consistent process that emerges when you’re anticipating what’s needed from a communications and leadership point of view. It involves four key phases.
Phase 1: Awareness: acknowledge the change
In most organisations, restructures are often the worst-kept secret because rumours spread quickly… meaning timing really matters. If you want any chance of shaping the narrative, you need to be ready to communicate early. So this phase is about setting expectations and laying the groundwork. The moment words like “restructure,” “optimisation,” or “transformation” are mentioned, people immediately ask one question: Do I still have a job?
At this point, the honest answer is often uncomfortable: We don’t know yet. What you can commit to is transparency and fairness, like explaining that once there is clarity, impacted individuals will be spoken to directly and respectfully. However, it’s worth remembering that people will respond differently. Some will start job hunting immediately, while others will wait and see, and even more may become vocal and emotional. All of this is normal.
It’s also worth noting that restructures can be handled in different ways:
All at once (“rip the band-aid off”): Faster, but often chaotic, with more reshaping needed later.
Layered approach: Starting at the top and moving down. This allows leaders to help design subsequent layers but extends uncertainty for those lower in the organisation.
Both approaches have trade-offs, and those trade-offs need to be acknowledged in how you communicate.
So the key focus points for this phase are:
Prepare FAQs early, even if not all answers are known.
Brief leaders thoroughly so they’re equipped to handle questions.
Centre the communication on people, not the organisation or leadership discomfort.
Plan for leaks and backlash, especially in highly unionised environments. Giving unions an early heads-up is often critical.
Empathy is non-negotiable here. Acknowledge uncertainty, name the emotional impact, and clearly outline what support is available.
Phase 2: Consultation: listening and engaging
In Australia, restructures usually trigger a formal consultation period. This is when a proposed structure is shared, and employees are given time, often a few weeks, to review it, ask questions, and provide feedback. This is where language really matters, because everything must be clearly labelled as ‘proposed’. This protects both the organisation and employees and reinforces that feedback is genuinely being considered.
Consultation is typically led by leaders, in partnership with HR. Individuals who are likely to be impacted are usually spoken to first, followed quickly by broader team sessions.
What you could do as a comms pro:
Set up a dedicated mailbox for questions and feedback, ideally not anonymous so personalised concerns can be addressed properly.
Expect feedback to range from emotional responses to very practical questions about responsibilities and workflow.
Use two-way communication; people need space to ask questions and understand the reasoning behind decisions.
Ensure proposed structures and roles align with enterprise agreements and legal requirements before they’re shared.
Many organisations also create a central information hub (for example, an intranet page) that includes timelines, FAQs, proposed structures, and updates as things evolve.
Phase 3: Confirmation: finalising the structure
Once consultation closes, feedback is reviewed and grouped into key themes. Responding to themes, rather than individual submissions, helps ensure consistency and manageability. While organisations aren’t obliged to change the structure based on feedback, strong insights often lead to refinements.
At this stage:
Have one-on-one conversations first with impacted team members.
Then share the confirmed structure with the wider group.
Leaders should explain the key feedback themes and how they were (or weren’t) addressed.
Outline clear next steps, including timelines.
This is also when questions about redundancy, redeployment, and payouts become front and centre. Eligibility and entitlements vary by role, tenure, and employment type. Some organisations provide tools or calculators to help employees understand their options. Often, impacted employees enter a redeployment period, where they may be offered comparable roles elsewhere in the organisation. Accepting or declining these roles can affect redundancy eligibility, so clarity and support are essential.
Plus, there’s offboarding:
How people leave an organisation is just as important as how they join it. Good offboarding includes:
Genuine recognition of contributions
Clear, respectful communication
Emotional support for both those leaving and those staying.
Some organisations also offer practical support, such as career transition services, resume help, or funding for further training. These gestures matter and not just for reputation, but because people often return later or influence others considering joining.
Phase 4: Embedding – Making the new structure work
Embedding is the phase that’s most often overlooked. Once the structure is announced, attention quickly shifts elsewhere but this is when people need the most clarity. Common questions include:
Who do I go to now?
Which team owns this work?
What’s changed in how we collaborate?
To support this transition, organisations can:
Provide simple team “about us” templates
Run informal sessions introducing teams and their roles
Create feedback channels to flag what’s working and what isn’t
It’s also critical to revisit the why. Has the restructure delivered on its promise? If it has, share that progress. Show that the change was strategic and it wasn’t just cost-cutting, plus that it’s making a difference.
